Posts Tagged ‘
HIV-positive ’

For Parents Whose Kids Won’t Sleep, There’s Help Online
Jodi Mindell, associate director of the Sleep Center at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, and her colleagues created an interactive database of the sleeping habits of more than 5,000 babies under the age of 3. The Customized Sleep Profile gives personalized recommendations for their child’s specific sleep problems. The program is currently available on the Johnson and Johnson website as one of its “tools for better sleep”. (Time)

No evidence that most autism treatments work
Most children with autism are treated with behavioral therapy starting at a young age, and many will try multiple kinds of therapy or medications, as they get older. However Researchers from the Journal of Pediatrics say that most treatment options do not have any convincing evidence that they actually help kids get better. (MSNBC)

More US families adopting HIV-positive kids
The number of U.S. parents undertaking HIV adoptions has increased greatly in the past five years. Throughout most of the AIDS epidemic, only a relative handful of HIV-positive foreign children came to the U.S. because of strict U.S. immigration policies that limited entry for anyone with the disease. In January 2010, that restriction ended — enabling children with HIV to enter as easily as other adoptive children. (MSNBC)

Editor’s Note: Guest blogger Malaak-Compton Rock (wife of comedian Chris Rock) is a mother of two daughters who is very passionate about making a change in communities around the world. She is the author of “If It Takes a Village, Build One,” and the founder of Angel Rock Project, an organization with a global volunteer exchange program for at-risk youth called Journey for Change. In this guest blog entry, Malaak-Compton Rock writes about how parents can ensure babies are born HIV-free in five years.

The AIDS Free Generation Is Due in 2015By Malaak Compton-Rock

Today is World AIDS Day, which may not resonate with a lot of people the way it did years ago when AIDS was an urgent health crisis in our country. This year, however, I’m writing to sound the alarm and make sure that we start to pay attention again.

We are poised to achieve one of the most important goals in the historic fight against AIDS and one that is especially relevant to all of us as parents.

Within five years, we can create the first generation of babies born HIV-free in three decades.

Let that sink in for a moment.

For the first time since this disease started ravaging our society (and killed more than 25 million people), we have a shot to give an entire generation a healthy start.

It won’t be easy. It will take hard work. But, it is completely possible.

Tomorrow is the 15th World AIDS Day. I don’t know if you have an answer to the question above, but I bet you will if you watch this incredible HBO documentary, The Lazarus Effect. Produced by Spike Jonze for the (RED) Campaign co-founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver (brother of Maria), “The Lazarus Effect” introduces us to four HIV-positive people–two women, one man, and one child– who are very much on the verge of death. Then they’re given antiretroviral medications (ARVs), which suppresses the HIV virus, and within months they are physically and emotionally transformed. Seeing the before and after footage of the people featured, and hearing in their own words what it’s like to have a second chance at life, is moving beyond description.

There is one awful exception to this. In the movie, we meet 11-year-old Bwalya, whose parents both died of AIDS. She is gravely ill when she first appears on screen and weighs all of 24 lbs. But the ARVs worked their magic, and we’re privileged enough to see the results. This past August, however, long after the film was complete, Bwalya died of heart failure. Knowing this, it’s very difficult to view the scenes with her and her aunt, who is overjoyed by her niece’s good health.

But watching this movie is 30 minutes well spent. And when you finish, and you’re wondering how you can help eradicate AIDS, head over to joinred.com, which has countless solutions, from cool products to buy, concerts to attend, to ways to spread the word about the power of ARVs.

Please check back tomorrow, when Malaak Compton-Rock has much more to say about World AIDS Day.